French prosecutors have indicated that they want 17 men to stand trial over allegations of rape and other crimes committed in the production of online pornography.
Accusations against the men include rape, gang rape, organised human trafficking and aggravated pimping, committed during video production for the French Bukkake platform, according to prosecution documents.
The prosecutors’ call for a trial comes almost a year after French police made several arrests as part of a wider investigation into violence and human trafficking in France’s pornography industry.
The accused include the top manager of the platform, his associate, a talent recruiter and around 10 porn actors, the source said.
Vulnerable women
It is now up to two judges in charge of the investigation to decide whether the trial goes ahead.
Prosecutors believe the recruiter lured young, economically vulnerable women into participating in the filming of the videos in the full knowledge that they would be subjected to “aggravated rape”, according to the document.
Investigators believe the women were told the videos would only be accessible on private Canadian websites.
In fact, the films were viewable in France and the producers demanded large sums of cash from the women to remove them – only for the images to continue to circulate online.
Prosecutors said alcohol and drugs were commonplace during the shoots.
Female actors told prosecutors that they had not been warned before going on set of the type of sexual acts expected of them.
“Sexual acts were performed on them without warning, without them being able to comprehend them, and therefore without being able to give their consent,” the document said.